And so, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band on the planet, The Rolling Stones.
(# 700) The Rolling Stones – Beggar’s Banquet
(1968)
After the relative disaster of Their Satanic Majesty’s
Request, the heat was on The Stones to deliver the goods. Expectations couldn’t have been high after it
was revealed the opening cut was named Sympathy For The Devil. Yet it just took a single play for everyone
to realise this was music of the highest order right down to the “woo hoos”. Having suckered the audience, it made sense
that the next track would be titled No Expectations, a delicate, sparse ballad
featuring the first of the classic tired sounded Jagger vocals. Dear Doctor and Parachute Woman continued
this vibe, albeit with increasing and more intricate arrangements, before a return to the refined sounds of Sympathy via Jig-Saw Puzzle.
Side 2 is absolutely perfect. It starts with Street Fighting Man, one of
their greatest songs, which would subsequently gain even greater power and
force in live performance. A deceptively
driving cover of Robert Wilkins’ Prodigal
Son provides the perfect lead in for the grand trio of closing tracks. Stray Cat Blues is a sleazy number brilliant emphasised
by Jagger’s vocals, Richards guitars and the hit of Sympathy style rhythms
towards its end; a similar rhythm powers
the delicate Factory Girl as almost a form of apology and the majestic Salt Of
The Earth builds on that to form its
stately, powerful crescendo generated
largely the product of the band’s
vocals, a choir, drums, piano and snatches of slide guitar.
(# 699) The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
(1969)
In some respects it could be said that this follow up was an
attempt to follow a formula established by Beggar’s Banquet. For most acts, this would have meant certain
death, but The Stones neatly sidestepped the issue by having material that was
just as good or even better. And in the
case of opening cut Gimmie Shelter they came up with no less than the greatest
track ever recorded. A superlative
version of Robert Johnson’s Train In Vain provided the blues legend cover,
Midnight Rambler provided the sleaze factor and You Can’t Always Get What You
Want produced the magnificent finish.
The remaining tracks wandered all over the musical map. Country Honk sees them cover their own Honky
Tonk Woman, Live With Me is a driving rock number, the title track sees them
return to the musical style of Beggars tracks such as Parachute Woman, You Got
The Silver is another delicate ballad and Monkey Man is simply explosive with
faint echoes of Sympathy For The Devil.
(# 701) The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
(1971)
Sticky Fingers is a real surprise. It comprises ten tracks containing only two
out and out rock numbers. Strategically
these, Brown Sugar and Bitch, are placed at the start of each side. Each is an example of The Stones at their
most brutal and yet, somehow these are then overwhelmed by the slower tracks
that follow them. Brown Sugar ultimately
proves no ,match for mid tempo masterpiece Sway, the absolutely beautiful Wild
Horses, the lively Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
and the blues holler of You Gotta Move. But the absolute highlight are the four tracks
that pounder Bitch into submission - I
Got The Blues, the harrowing Sister Morphine (with arguably Jagger’s finest
ever vocal), the rollicking Dead Flowers and another perfect closer in
Moonlight Mile.
So there you have it my favourite album. I can’t split these really, but on this year’s
listen (and this year’s listen alone), I’ll anoint Let It Bleed as the winner,
just ahead of Beggar’s.
Not that this means much.
Ask me again next week, and I’ll probably give you a different answer. In the meantime I have a Saturday on the couch to look forward to and some reading to complete.
No comments:
Post a Comment